Some remedies proposed, for the restoring the sunk credit of the province of Pennsylvania; with some remarks on its trade. : Humbly offer'd to the consideration of the worthy representatives in the General Assembly of this province. / By a lover of this country. ; [One line in Latin from Ovid]

Some remedies proposed, for the restoring the sunk credit of the province of Pennsylvania; with some remarks on its trade. : Humbly offer'd to the consideration of the worthy representatives in the General Assembly of this province. / By a lover of this country. ; [One line in Latin from Ovid]

Table of contents

Title page

Some Remedies proposed for the Restoring the sunk Credit of this Province of Pensylvannia; with some needful Remarks on its Trade.

§

[Page]

Some Remedies proposed for the Restoring the sunk Credit of this Province of Pensylvannia; with some needful Remarks on its Trade.

IT is a necessary and primary Maxim in every Trading Country, That the Credit of the Country must be preserved: In doing of which two Things are needful;

I. The Produce and Manufactory must be good in their Kinds, and not wanting is Weight or Measure.

II. The Pay of the Country ought to be ready and punctual.

So necessary are these Maxims to be observed in all Trading Countries, that no Country can be found either rich or happy so long as they are neglected. We need go no farther for an Example, than by comparing the former with the present State of this Province. When formerly, the Produce of this Province was preferred before that of New-York for its Goodness, and our Payments at Home ready and punctual, Did any People on this Continent encrease more in Riches? And who was there then in Trade that did not get Estates? And, where a Country of better Credit? But since our Produce has deservedly [Page] got an ill Character in the West-Indies, by our unrestricted Manner of Bolting; and our running Stock of Money being sunk has introduced the most scandalous Custom at Home, of endless Trust and a beggarly Discount; Where is there a Country more scandalous Abroad, and more beggarly at Home?

Almost every one knows, how short we fall in ballancing our Trade with England, and that if some Produce or Manufactory could be found to ballance that Trade, the Advantage we have in the West-India Trade would in some time procure us a Stock of Running Cash; but when good Fortune will be pleased to favour us in this last Particular, is not possible for any one at this time to tell, tho' several Things may be very reasonably offered to our Tryal, which we need not neglect: But in the mean time the D [...]ing Credit of a Country must not lie unregarded. Diseases, whose Remedies are unknown, are cured rather by Chance than Skill; and therefore may prudently be left to the Result of Time: But Diseases, whose Cures are known, are not to be neglected. For, as one of the Faculty wisely saith, every Disease is not mortal, yet every Disease is hurtful; therefore it is highly imprudent not to cure a Disease as soon as possible.

The only Remedies that at present can be proposed, to restore the sunk Credit of this Province are, what the recited Maxims of all Trading Countries directs us to; which are evidently two, viz.

[Page]1st, That the Commodities we export for the future, be good in their Kinds; that is to say, Our manufactured Wheat must be so carefully inspected, that no Mistake or Trick of Bolters, shall impose upon us Course Midling instead of Fine Flour, or patch us up an Invoice to couzen the Buyer Fifteen in the Hundred; Knaveries too commonly practised, to the unspeakable Loss and Discredit of this Province.

We are informed by late Advices from Jamaica, That New-York Flour is sold for 40 s. per Barrel, Philadelphia Flour at 30 s. The Reason for this Difference in the Sales is undoubtedly the Badness of our Flour. [...] Bolters pack up what they please, but [...] New-York all their Flour is weighed and examined, at an Office appointed for that Purpose.

The ill Character our Flour justly meets with in the West-Indies occasions Losses to this Country of many Kinds: As, 1st, The New-York Flour being justly preferred before ours, is certain to be sold first; our Vessels do frequently wait till New-York Flour is sold, or go to another Port. Our Voyages by this Means are rendered long, and consequently more expensive by several Pounds per Cent. than they need to be. We also export less Flour probably by One Third than we should do, were our Flower esteemed equal with theirs of New-York.

Innumerable are the Losses that flow from hence: Could we sell but a Fifth more Flour [Page] in the West-Indies than we now do, which is the least we can suppose if ours was equal to New-York, that One Fifth must return to us Cash or European Goods: For, as observed before, we have the Ballance of that Trade; for which Reason the West Indies are obliged to fill up our Accounts with Cash, or the Produce of some other Country in Demand with us. Therefore never so small an Addition to this Trade, would be so much Help towards ballancing our Trade with England.

It may not be amiss likewise to observe by the by, That the less West India Produce [...], the more will the West-India Trade be in Debt to us for ballance: For which Reason, the more we discourage the Importation of Rome, but more especially Melasses, the more will the Ballance fall in our Favour. Melasses ought in particular to be discouraged, for it not only in many Cases discourageth the Raising of Barley, but the Distilling of other Spirits, not to be dispised; particularly, that from Apples and Peaches, Liquors capable of Improvements, not inferior to the best [...] Brandy for wholesom and friendly Effects; in many Cases medicinal, particularly the Peach-Spirit, if rightly distilled.

The 2d Thing necessary for the Restoring the sunk Credit of this Province, is, The Pay of the Country must be rendered more ready and punctual than it is at present.

It is melancholly to tell the miserable Condition of this Province, occasioned by a Neglect in this last Particular. How deplorable [Page] are the Lives of the common People! Their Trades and Callings discouraged and valued at nought: What real Estates they have had are mortgaged, eat out and consumed; and the whole Province look'd upon by all Foreigners, as a Country beggarly and scandalous, not worth Trading with. But the melancholly Decay of Credit in this Province requires not much Time to demonstrate, for every [...] is too sensibly convinced of it; nor [...] any farther than into [...] to convince is that a [...] Money now wanting is the [...] D [...] cay: The common Necessaries for [...] brought to the Market are not to be bought, because Change (as Silver and Copper is commonly called) is not to be had; all our Domestick Trade is become nothing but Discount, A miserable Make-shift good for Nought, but to enrich Knaves and beggar Fools.

Now to recover a running Stock of Money sunk in any Country, these three Things are proposed to us.

1st, To recover the Ballance of a Trade, which may be said to be lost; or, by forcing some New Trade, where the Ballance may be hoped will fall in Favour of the Country.

2. To raise the Price of Silver or Gold; for these, like other Commodities, will be carried to the best Markets.

3. To make Money by Publick Authority, which shall pass by Virtue of a Stamp impress'd on something there to be had, whether it be Pewter, Silver, Spelter, Brass or Paper, it matters not[Page]which, the ready Currency of the Thing is all that is to be look'd to.

And these three are the only Ways made Use of, to procure a running Stock sunk in any Country.

The first Thing proposed cannot be procured in this Province by any Means yet tried. The Second will undoubtedly do something, though probably too slow: But the Third promises, not only a speedy Recovery of our sunk Stock, but likewise Matters profitable, and highly needful for the Country in general; which, we hope, will appear by what follows.

But, before we propose any thing in this Matter, it will be necessary to answer some Objections, that are sequently offered against raising a Running Stock after this third Manner proposed; wherein also, by the by, we shall observe the Method and Success of other Countries in this Particular.

It is a common Notion of Men unacquainted in Trade, That Nothing can be made the Running Stock of any Country, but Silver or Gold, without some Loss to that Country. And this is a Mistake sensibly arising from a defective Knowledge of what Silver and Gold really is on the one Hand, and the Nature of a Running Stock on the other.

For Silver and Gold has no more Title to be a Running Stock of any Country, than. John of Nokes has to be Lord Mayor of London; they are allowed to be so by the general Consent and Choice of a Country, and because of [Page] the comparative Value they have above most other Commodities: Besides, their convenient Carriage and easy Conveyance make most Countries choose them as running Purchasers of all other Commodities; yet any other Commodity may be made a running Stock as well as these.

And again: The narrow Notions Men generally have of the Nature of a running Stock, make them suppose, That nothing can be made the running Stock of any Country without some Loss.

Was the running Stock of any Country designed for no other Use than to be exported? Then nothing could be preferred before Silver or Gold, because they are in Demand in most Countries; and skilful Merchants could sca [...] ever lose by them, as they too frequently do by other Commodities.

But as it is most evident, That the running Stock is a thing which every Country wisely covets to preserve; therefore whatsoever is the Running Stock of any Country, must be by so much the more valuable, by how much it is capable of being confined to the Business it was designed for: And herein Silver or Gold cannot be so certainly confined, as some other Things in Use may.

But what is the most proper thing to raise a Running Stock of Money in this Province, the Legislators ought to be the best Judges: However, we hope to be pardoned, if we take a View of other Countries, what Methods they have taken, and what Success they [Page] have met with in their farther Proceedings in this Affair.

We find it was ever the Opinion and general Custom of most Countries, where Gold and Silver was not sufficient to carry on the Domestick Trade, nothing was equal to STAMP'D PAPER, whose indebted Value was secured to the Receiver by some certain Fund.

The Dutch indeed, by Virtue of a Stamp, impress'd on a base Metal, have raised a Running Stock of Money, which is frequently imported into other Countries; but the intrinsick Value of this Money is near One Fifth short of the Value it commonly passeth for. Such a Kind of Money, and sometimes much worse, have we frequently met with, which, by the Authority of some Prince or State, has been made current, to supply some pressing Occasions. But this Kind of Money being supported only by an absolute Power, and not by any visible Fund, cannot be made but where such a Power doth preside and giveth Assent to the Currency of such Money: But in little Colonies, at a great Distance from their Prince, such Money cannot be expected will be allowed by him to be made.

In this Case, a Piece of Paper, stamp'd and figured, not easily to be counterfeited, expressing the Value it shall pass for, (in the Manner and Form hereafter mentioned) and this Value secured to the Possessor by some visible Fund, is really a Money not inferior to the best Silver and Gold for a Domestick [Page] Trade, and is evidently superior to the Money made of base Metals, supported only by the Authority of one or more Persons Will and Pleasure, and not by any intrinsick Value or visible Fund. But it is as possible to beat the plainest Truths into some Mens Heads as it is to make a Dromedary speak: They readily tell us, That Paper-Money is nought; It is destructive (say they); To all Places, where it comes, it carries away all the Silver: And thereupon call to evidence (as they weakly suppose) the ill Fate of South-Carolina and Boston:

But should we suppose Paper-Money in any Case injurious to South-Carolina or Boston, it would be a gross Mistake; though it is to be confessed, that in South-Carolina they were [...] duced to such Straits (by their Indian Wary [...] pay off Soldiers, and other War-Expences, that they were obliged to make more Paper-Money than, in Time of Peace, their Domestick Trade had occasion for. And in Boston, this is the Fault of their Paper-Money (if any) they have too much; yet can neither the Trade, nor the Silver or Gold of South-Carolina or Boston be said to be lessened one Jot by this.

It is only the Want of a Produce or Manufactury in a Port, to ballance the Trade of some other Port it deals with, or the low Value is set on Silver or Gold, do carry it out of any Port. As to Trade, a due proportion'd Quantity of Paper-Money; whose Value is secured, is as far from hurting it, as a Piece of Bread an empty Traveller.

[Page]Since they made Paper-Money in Boston are less Fish exported? Or, fewer Vessels built? Do any one refuse to receive their Bills? By what Trade can they possibly get a sufficient Stock of Silver or Gold, to supply the Country with Running Cash? And if they can no where command it, as most certainly their Trade at present cannot do it What [...] they do without Paper-Money? Must every Gentleman, Tradesman, &c. turn Fish Merchant? What an odd Kind of Running Stock of Money must stinking Fish make? Instead of a Bag, or Pocket, they must hire a Cart to carry Home Fifty Shillings; and after all, the intrinsick Value of their Running Stock would be daily in Danger of rotting or wasting some way or other.

The very same may be said of South Carolina; Doth Paper-Money frighten Silver or Gold from coming among them? Or, are they not uncapable of ballancing the Trade of most Money'd Parts? Do fewer Vessels go from thence to England? Do not Foreigners receive their Paper-Money? O, do any refuse to take it again at the same Rates it was received? Do any Traders lose a Farthing by it? And, to conclude, If there was not Paper-Money in South-Carolina, how could the Trade of that Country be so readily dispatched as it is?

It is to be confessed, That one of our Neighbouring Provinces hath met with ill Success in their making Paper-Money; it sunk in its Value: And the Publick Authority rather encouraging this Misfortune, than putting [Page] any Stop to it, its Value entirely vanished, and the whole Country was greatly injured by this Misfortune, particularly Barbadoes. But this proceeded not from any Evil entailed on Paper-Money, but the bad Managing of it: For, in the first Place, they allowed it not to be (as it ought) a lawful Tender in all Payments; which thing will ever render Paper, or any other Money, inferior to that which is unlimited in its Payments. Besides, Governor Granvill immediately after being called Home, and having a large Quantity of Paper-Money by him, offered it at some Discount for Silver-Money. Had none been over-look'd in this wrong Proceeding, none but His Excellency would have been a Loser, those that bought of him would have got by it: But, like Men as ignorant of their own Interest, as of the Nature of the Money they had made, every one strove who could most undervalue it, till at last, almost every one had a worthless Paper left in his Pocket, with the Title of Pounds, though not worth one Farthing.

And this is no other than will happen in Matters of higher Nature, if Laws are made not to be obeyed. Had the Magistracy timely punished such Persons as offered to buy or sell at a lower Value than what the Legislators had authorized the Bills to pass for, all the ill Consequences would have been prevented, and they might have done as much Good to the Country in general, as any Money [Page] not a sufficient Tender in all Payments could have done.

But to propose the best and most certain Manner of making Paper-Money, not inferior to Silver or Gold, for the Running Stock of any Country, three Things are necessary to be regarded, viz.

I. The Funds from whence it riseth; or, more properly, the lands that give it Credit.

II. The Manner of preserving its Value.

III. The Manner of Sinking it.

1. One Kind of Fund made Use of to give Credit to a certain Quantity of Paper Money, is, A real Security given for a certain Quantity of Bills, at an Office appointed by Publick Authority for that Purpose; which is no other than like the Manner of mortgaging the Estate of one Neighbour to another; except that here the Money belonging to the Government, the Interest becomes the Publick's Advantage. And this publick Way of lending Money has been looked upon of such Advantage to the Borrower, as well as undoubtedly it is to the Lender, that private Offices of this Kind have been encouraged; particularly, one at Westminster, authorized by Patent, to lend upon Security of House, Lands, Goods, Wares, &c. A Thing of Advantage to the poorer Sort, as well Housekeepers as Tradesmen, who, by some Misfortune, had [Page] fallen behind-hand in their Stocks, by which Means they were happily furnished with Money to carry forward their sinking Trades, or buy Food to feed their starving Families, till such time as by Industry they could mend their sunk Fortunes; which bad Fate often happens, both to the Good and Wise, by Ways unforeseen by any Mortal, as Fire, Sickness, becoming Surely, Persecution, Robbery, &c.

2. Another Fund in Use to give Credit to a certain Quantity of Paper-Money, is a Tax hid by Publick Authority; which, after a limited Quantity of Paper Money has been dispersed through a Country, for paying some publick Debts, whether Arrears, or Yearly-Salaries of publick Officers, or Buildings for the publick Use of the Country. &c. The said Tax laid upon such unperishable Produce or Manufacture of the Country, as will sink yearly a certain Quantity of the said Bills, sometimes One Twealfth, One Eighth, or One Fourth, as the Legislators think most easy and advantageous to the Publick.

But to make this more plain, we shall suppose, That in this Province there is a very great Necessity for some publick Buildings, and to pay publick Debts, &c. which is indeed beyond Supposition; and what is also as true, That we have not Money to go to the Market with, much less to pay large Taxes; and that Three or Four Thousand Pounds must be raised very quickly, to pay these our publick Demands: And should we suppose our [Page] Legislators world appoint Bills to be made to the Value of the above Sum, and the said Bills to be paid to answer the said Demands, then such a Tax must be laid upon some of our Produce, or Manufactury, as will raise per Annum the One Eighth, &c. of the said 4000 l. which Tax being yearly paid in Bills into the Treasury of this Province, and those Bills destroyed as soon as they are received, will evidently in Eight Years sink the whole Sum of Four Thousand Pounds. Which Way of raising of large Sums at once, and paying by Degrees, is certainly the easiest and best Way for the Raising of publick Buildings, or paying publick Debts, that ever was undertook by any Country: Besides that, to omit the great Advantage a Country drained of its Cash must enjoy, by the Running Stock of Money that must naturally circulate from such an Undertaking.

The second Thing necessary, in order to preserve the Value of Paper-Money (after once it is distributed through a Country, That it fall not lower than the stated Value of Silver, brings to our Consideration the most material Art of Managing of Paper-Money: From the ill managing of this Part have all the Misfortunes happened that ever befel Paper-Money: To avoid which three Things are necessary to be regarded.

1. That it exceed not in Quantity the Running Stock of Money a Country demands in its Trade.

[Page]For Paper Money being no exportable Commodity, whatsoever Quantity there is above what the Trade demands, will lie dead, and consequently sink the Value of the whole Sum of Bills in Proportion to the dead Quantity.

2. Paper-Money must be made a lawful Tender in all Payments.

For what Money soever is not such, cannot be called the Current Money of any Country but a lame Stock; like a founder'd Horse, will disappoint the Owner at some time or other, and teach him, that to run well, it is necessary he should be sound in every Part. If any Kind of Money will not buy me Bread as well as Drink, my Wants are scarce Half supplied, and I may starve for want of this one Thing necessary, as well as if I had neither.

3. That Interest of Paper-Money must not be inferior to Silver, or any other Currency of a Country.

For what is it makes Money valued in a Country, but the general Use of it in paying all Debts, and procuring us all our bodily Wants; and withal, be every way as valuable to the Possessor, as the Money of a Country can be made to be?? And how can any Money do otherwise than deceive the Possessor, if he cannot lend it upon the same Interest, as any other at the same Time in Use? Which thing, if not regarded, will sink the Value of Paper-Money, as well as any other thing whatever.

[Page]3dly, The last Particular, we proposed to render Paper-Money no way inferior to Silver or Gold; that no Possessor of the said Money shall, upon the Calling in of the same, receive any Loss or Damage: But this being very easy to be collected from what has been said, it would be needless to add any thing further in this Peace.

Whilst we have been thus expatiating on the low State of this Province, proposing a reasonable Way for her Recovery, and had brought these Remarks to a Conclusion, there are two Things of ill Consequence, that happen to us from Abroad, which just now occur to our View, the Remedying of which cannot but be of Advantage.

The first is, Rum imported from the West-Indies in high-bilged Cask; which doth evidently wrong this Country, in its Returns from thence, no small Value yearly; besides the great Loss Retailers of Rum (who are generally of the poorer Sort) must needs sustain.

The second Thing, is, Our Over-looking the Vessels of a Neighbouring Colony, who very much hinder the Freight of our own; and at the same time do lessen the Ballance of our Trade in the West-Indies: They bring us nothing of a Produce or Manufacture of their own worth mentioning, and at their Return rob our Vessels of their Freight to the West-Indies; and what is worse frequently import us Salt: [Page] For if we consult our own Interest, we ought to import it in our own Bottoms only.

The Nation of England esteems it no small Loss, to suffer Hollanders, F [...]nings, and a [...] others, to be Cariers betwixt them and other Countries, as appears by the Act of Negation, 12 Car. II. forbidding all Foreigners import any Thing, but each one the Product of his own Country.

We already know, That Men, fond of a Notion of a Free Port, will be highly offended at the above; but our designed Brevity c [...] ling us to conclude, we cannot in this Pla [...] insist on those Arguments, which would evidently shew, That such Notions (as they are generally received) are not founded on a right Knowledge of what a Free Port rea [...] is: Which, in short, cannot be without the Licence and Protection of a Prince or Stat [...] all other Ports, that receive Vessels not [...] Peace with their Prince, or allow prohibited Goods to be imported, are guilty of a Brea [...] of Trust, and in some Cases Treason.

But the true Interest of a Port, not allow [...] to trade after this extraordinary Manner, [...] First, To preserve its Credit at Home; a [...] Secondly, The Ballance of its Trade Abroad Whatever promoteth these ought to be [...]couraged. This, and no other, is the fi [...]t Trade that ought to be allowed in any Po [...]

And now, out of a hearty Zeal for t [...] Good of our Country, having briefly run [...] ver [Page] the real Causes of the Decay of Trade and Credit in this Port, and also briefly proposed (as we humbly conceive) some of the best Remedies to restore our Credit, and encrease our Trade both at Home and Abroad, it is to be hoped, as every Inhabitant of this Province cannot but be sensible of the said Decay of Trade and Credit, that they will be as ready to encourage every Thing, that may tend to restore the same to its former happy State; those happy Times, when our Produce was preferred before any others of the same Kind in the West-Indies, and our Payments at Home ready and punctual: So good was their Credit, and so generous the Inhabitants in their Dealings one with another, that Dunning, the Bane and Destruction of all Trade, was not heard of in Pennsylvania: But where is there, at this Time, a Country more behind in their Payments, and more careless of the Goods they export; and consequently of worse Credit at Home and Abroad?

FINIS.

§

§

[Page]

[Page]

SOME REMEDIES PROPOSED, FOR THE Restoring the sunk Credit Of the Province of PENNSYLVANIA; WITH Some Remarks on its Trade. Humbly Offer'd to the Consideration of the Worthy Representatives in the General Assembly of this Province.

By a Lover of this Country.

— Amor Patria, Ratione valentior Omni.

Ovid. ex Pont.

Printed in the Year, 1721.

§

§

Pag. 9. line 10. read, Nothing but Silver and Gold. p. 10. l. 7. read, inferred Value.

Information about this book

Title statement

Some remedies proposed, for the restoring the sunk credit of the province of Pennsylvania; with some remarks on its trade. : Humbly offer'd to the consideration of the worthy representatives in the General Assembly of this province. / By a lover of this country. ; [One line in Latin from Ovid]

Rawle, Francis, ca. 1662-1727.

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Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

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Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2008-09.

ID [DLPS]

N01930

ID [TCP]

N01930

ID [STC]

Evans 2287

ID [NOTIS]

APV7310

ID [IMAGE-SET]

2287

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99002835

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Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 2287.

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(Evans-TCP ; no. N01930)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 2287)

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Source

— Some remedies proposed, for the restoring the sunk credit of the province of Pennsylvania; with some remarks on its trade. : Humbly offer'd to the consideration of the worthy representatives in the General Assembly of this province. / By a lover of this country. ; [One line in Latin from Ovid], Rawle, Francis, ca. 1662-1727..

Extent

20 p. ; (8vo)

Printed [by Andrew Bradford],. [Philadelphia] :: in the year, 1721.. (Attributed to Francis Rawle by Evans.) (Ascribed to the press of Andrew Bradford by Evans.) (Errata statement, at foot of p. 20.)

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